The HUSKY

The HUSKY

In 2004, Simon Greenwood, a Wicklow Town man, founded Island Shipping, a multi-disciplinary marine service company located on the east coast of Ireland, with their vessels based in the port of Wicklow. In 2018, this company was to become part of a larger entity called Alpha Marine Services.

In 2004, Simon managed to source and purchase his company's first suitable sea vessel which was for sale on the island of Sarawak in Malaysia. She was the sturdy multi-purpose tug, the BORCOS II, formerly owned by Borcos Shipping. This vessel was designed by Conan Wu and Associates, who were world-renowned for their ship designs. She was built in 1986 by Ironwoods Shipyard-Kuching, Malaysia. 

Her early years were spent working in the gas industry, tasked with the connection of gas tankers in the China Seas, up to 120 miles offshore in the area around Brunei. As a result of this work, she was equipped with a spark arresters drenching system to enable her to achieve the highest maritime safety standards required.

The Australian shipbroker who sourced the Barcos II for Tim and Simon in Sarawak also managed to get a place for her as deck cargo on a ship that was carrying components for gas turbines from Korea bound for Killybegs, Co. Donegal. To enable her to meet the heavy-lift ship, the BBC MEXICO, she had to motor on to the Malaysian port of Bintulu where a cradle was constructed on the deck of the larger vessel. 

Renamed by Simon and his brother, Tim (who had joined the company in 2005) as the HUSKY, she was well lashed down to the deck,with somewhere in the region of 40 chains prior to her long voyage. The Polish captain explained that the whole trip took almost a month, with difficult weather conditions in the Bay of Biscay causing great concern. At one stage, he feared he might have lost the HUSKY overboard. He was delighted to deliver her safely to Killybegs where she spent some time being upgraded before her arrival in Wicklow which was to become her homeport for the next twenty years.

During her tour of duty at the port, this robust and versatile Belfast-registered tugboat has worked all around the coast of Ireland. Outside of Irish waters, she has worked in the North Sea on wind farm projects, as well as undertaking towage projects in Holland and the UK. She is capable of a speed of 9.5 knots, her propulsion being supplied by two fixed pitch propellers which give her great manoeuvrability. Fitted with two winches and a deck crane, she has been regularly working at the Arklow Bank Windfarm during her operational lifetime, ably skippered by master Nicholas Keogh and crew.

The HUSKY has always fascinated me, and as I have known Tim and Simon since they were young lads, I wanted to recognise their maritime ambitions and work by including their vessel as part of my constantly expanding pier gallery. They were absolutely thrilled and proud to see their stalwart tugboat on the wall.

As well as seeing her heading out to the Arklow Bank Windfarm, I have seen her working off Dun Laoghaire with the large barge, the CELINE, transporting armour rock to protect the pier and for the redevelopment of the Dun Laoghaire's Baths area. From 2024-2025, she has been engaged in bed-levelling or ploughing in Wicklow Harbour during ebb tides to maintain safe water depths in the shipping channel. To carry out this task, the HUSKY's fitted plough is dropped and hauled along the seabed to even out irregularities.

During the latter part of 2025, we sadly had to bid farewell to the brave little HUSKY as she was sold to new owners in the West of Ireland, with the port of Rossaveal, Co. Galway becoming her new home. She has left us with many great memories of her years in Wicklow and of her multi-purposed works across the oceans.

As well as a photo of my mural of the HUSKY, I feature below a photo taken many years ago in 2008 on the slipway in Arklow that shows her original design features. In addition, I share a photo of her bed-levelling at Wicklow Harbour.